Sponsored by Rackspace Hosting's Startup Program, Tech PR and Startup Communications advisor, Alan Weinkrantz, shares his insights and 5 key ways to get your communications mojo on for 2015. Presentation given at the HAC - Accelerator in Herzliya, Israel on December 23, 2014

1. ABOVETHE CODE
- How to Win in 2015 -
Successful Startup Communications Strategies
Herzliya - December 23, 2014

2. ABOUT
•33 years - yup, I am an old school PR guy.... and believe in the real
power of PR
•San Antonio &Tel Aviv
•Involved with Israel’s traditional tech sector for the last 20 years
•Sponsored by Rackspace to here November, December, January…
and maybe beyond…

3. TODAY...
•Presentation online @ www.alanweinkrantz.com
•Share in real time @alanweinkrantz
•Sharing principles, methods, approaches... each company is different
•Practical tips, hints and actionable steps you can take and succeed in
2015

4. $24,000.00 in hosting / cloud / email credits for 12 months
I am sponsored by Rackspace Startup Program

5. I am not here to “lecture.”
This is a discussion.
Let’s learn from each other.

6. INTRO...
•Who’s in the room?
•Startups: Status / Funding / Distribution / Partnerships
•Companies: Technology / Product / Markets
•Communications challenges
•Communications plans for 2015
•Media coverage?

7. I’M HERE....
•To help you....
• think about the importance and role of strategic communications
and PR in your startup and do ti with some practical, easy ways…
•connect in a whole new way that a few years ago was left to the
marketing department or an external ad agency or PR firm
•discover and build the editorial fabric of your startup and help you
succeed in 2015

8. GOOD NEWS :)
•Very low cost / no cost to
create a start-up
•Big Idea
•Core team
•Strong will
•Servers / hosting

9. BAD NEWS :(
•Someone in NewYork, Madrid, San Francisco, Singapore,Tel Aviv,
Mumbai is thinking the same thing as you are :(
•Hard to have a defensible position
•Hard to protect your IP
•Getting traction is tough

10. MAIN CHALLENGES
•Defining who you are
•Building a story and narrative
•Thinking like a media company - not just “a startup”
•Identifying “media” you want to be helpful to
•Getting coverage, when possible

11. 5 PRACTICAL WAYSTO PLAN
FOR 2015
•1. Identify who you want to reach
•2. Listen and get inside their head
•3. Watch and listen to how others you compete with or on the
periphery do it
•4. Build a body of work that defines who you are and helps you get
discovered - start thinking like a brand publisher / media company
•5. Reach out and pitch

12. 1. WHO DO I WANTTO
REACH?
•Define the space - and the place you think you belong
•Rank the order of importance - it’s ok to dream
•news.google.com is your friend. So is twitter…
•Track competitors, subject matter, people, thought leaders in your
space

13. Live Demo… need a couple of volunteers…

14. Live Demo… need a couple of volunteers…

15. www.angel.co

16. Text
www.twtrland.com

17. www.listorious.com

18. MuckRack.com

19. www.helpareporter.com

20. 2. DEFINE WHOYOU ARE
•Marketing
•Business
•Technical
•Legal
•Medical
•Social

21. WRITE FOR STORYTELLING
•Why is what you are working on important?
•How are you improving lives?
•How are you helping people hack their own lives?
•What are you seeing in the way people are taking responsibility for
their own health

22. LOOK WHATYOU DID!
•Solved a problem
•Figured out a way to connect two or more things and do something
special with it
•Codified a process, expertise, method or a discovery
•Delivering of new type of experience on the devices & platforms we
are using today - and in the future

23. GUIDESTO WRITING
•Write like you speak...record yourself and transcribe what you say
•Your potential investors, partners, maybe an acquisition are reading
your content to see what’s in your heart and soul and why you care
about what you are doing.
•Pretend you are speaking to an audience.... write in front of a mirror
(seriously...)
•Make this a team effort - including the programmer / coder

24. WHYTHIS MATTERSTODAY...
•Story telling, having a voice, and the on-going narrative is a reflection
of your startup / company’s heart and soul
•It becomes the body of work that helps you recruit talent, attract
investors, customers, build partnerships, and be discovered by the
media
•Someone at the other end of the periphery of the web just might find
you and use your content to share your story.

25. 3. LISTENTO COMPETITORS &
THE PERIPHERY
•Is there someone ahead of you?
•Who is not competing, but on
the periphery?
•Who is not competing and in
another complementary space?
•Where is the periphery?

26. 4. BUILD A BODY OF WORK
•Focus on your startup’s blog
•Builds credibility
•Increases your chances of being discovered
•Enables you to provide background material when you pitch
•Helps you self-define your startup

27. YOU’RE REALLY A MEDIA
COMPANYTHAT....
•Creates and makes media
so you’ll be discovered,
found and shared
•YouTube
•Twitter
•Facebook
•Blog
•Pinterest
•Instagram
•SoundCloud
•Google Plus
•LinkedIn
•UStream

28. F1
F2
F3
F4
Role.Tone.Voice.
CEO: Serious.Thought Leader.
CTO: Technical. Knowledge. What’s Next.
Biz Dev: Forward. Opportunity. Open.
Lead Dev: Innovator. Code. Team.
“F” = founder

29. Jan Feb March
F1
F2
F3
F4
90 Day Editorial Calendar Planner
2x topics per month from each - 24 posts per quarter

30. HAVE A MISSION
•We’re out to make __________ better
•We want to help _____ do _______
•We want to help others the opportunity to ________
•We’re connecting _______ with ______ so they can ________
•We make it easier to ____________
•Have your voice be heard about _________

31. HOWTO PITCH…
•Start story telling
•Write a simple, introductory
email… as an inquiry.

32. HACKYOUR OWN
COMMUNICATIONS
•Think of yourself as a reporter &
story teller
•Much of this you can do yourself
•Leave digital bread crumbs

33. PLAN....
•Post and write relevant content
so you can be a source to media
on your field of expertise
•Develop & publish infographics
you can share
•Follow a wish list of 20
journalists you think should
cover you
•Read and comment on relevant
articles without being self
promotional.
•Ask end user / beta customers if
you can refer to them to media
•Follow editorial calendars
•Create your own editorial
calender

34. BEFORE DECEMBER 31
•Make a wish list of where you
belong
•business / tech / bloggers
•media appropriate to your
space
•analysts / influencers
appropriate to your space
•track competitors or
companies in your periphery
on news.google.com to see
who covers and writes about
them
•track competitors on Angel.co

35. PLAN FOR PR
•If you follow some of these basic
principles, you’ll be further
ahead.
•This process takes at least six
months to one year to really get
on a journalist’s radar and be
sticky - sometimes you can get
lucky
•Get everyone on your team to
make this part of their regimen
as it will make them aware of
the opportunities that await you
when you are ready.
•Bring up PR in your team
meetings in a “what if...” scenario.
Be Ready For PR SoYou Can Succeed

36. THIS HASTO BE…
•A team effort
•Sustainable. Start now…
•Listen. Listen. Listen. Always be in discovery mode.
•How can you help

37. $24,000.00 in hosting / cloud / email credits for 12 months
I am sponsored by Rackspace Startup Program

38. PLUS….
When you become a Rackspace Startup Program member, I
adopt you and can help you in your journey.

39. please share:)
ABOVETHE CODE™
054-321-6176

40. alan@weinkrantz.com
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© Alan Weinkrantz And Company 2014 AboveThe Code ™
(c) Alan Weinkrantz 2014